"19 accused of stealing jet fuel in Miami"

Thursday, July 22, 2004

19 accused of stealing jet fuel in Miami
By ADRIAN SAINZ
The Associated Press


MIAMI -- Contract workers at Miami International Airport falsely
classified jet fuel as contaminated and then sold it on the sly,
stealing 2.7 million gallons of fuel, prosecutors alleged Thursday.

Nineteen people including mechanics, technicians and an airport official
were named in arrest warrants issued in the alleged corruption scheme,
which also allegedly included unneeded or overpriced repairs and
contract fraud, the State Attorney's Office said.

Eleven people were arrested by midday Thursday and the others were
either being sought or had agreed to turn themselves in later, officials
said.

"We were finally able to ferret out a pattern of criminal activity at
our fuel facility," said Angela Gittens, Miami-Dade County's aviation
director.

The alleged thefts, overcharges and other frauds date as far back as
1999 and totaled more than $5 million, officials said.
 
Officials said a worker at Aircraft Services International Group, a
contractor that operated the airport's fuel depot, would pump jet fuel
into waste tanks under the guise it was contaminated when it wasn't.

Drivers from two other companies would then pump the good fuel into
tanker trucks and shop it around for resale, an affidavit said.

Roughly 33,000 gallons of fuel were being stolen per month, and the
implicated workers received kickbacks, authorities said. The stolen fuel
was valued at about $4 million, authorities said.

In another alleged scheme, the airport administration was overcharged
for replacement of valves in the airport's fuel system, in one case
paying $3,428 each for 14 fuel control valves that normally cost $912.

The airport official among the 19, project manager Patricia Nichols, was
responsible for approving ASIG's expenses and allegedly signed off on
fraudulent invoices and accepted expensive gifts from others involved in
the scheme.


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